How soon is now?

What a stroke of luck to be permitted to borrow the van from work. I used it to make two trips to my new apartment and hauled approximately fifty boxes. It would have taken me at least six trips in my car to transport all of those cardboard and plastic cubes. Even better, the boxes are in closets except for those on the kitchen countertop. They won't stay there. I'll need to do lots of unpacking of books, CDs, DVDs, and clothes, but I feel pretty good about moving that much by myself and making it invisible in the apartment.

Although it was a warm, shirt-soaking day--the high reached 88--I'll take it over moving in the rain. Friday is supposed to be mostly sunny, and Saturday's forecast has been scaled back to scattered thunderstorms. I figure I can make one or two more trips on my own tomorrow, which should make Saturday relatively pain-free. Sure, it'll involve moving the bigger items, but it's not like I have a lot of those. And I will have help. I ordered the rental truck and got a bonus upgrade to a larger one, which should eliminate any need to make two trips with it. Plus, it has a loading ramp. That'll make life easier.

My first impression upon entering my new home was that it seemed smaller than I remembered. It is smaller than my longtime apartment, although considering I've only stored things in the second bedroom, the amount of space I use may be equal. After getting acclimated, it didn't seem too small. It has an open layout with the living room, dining room, and kitchen, so that should make it feel bigger.

I crossed paths with occupants of two of the building's six units, but I got the more serious examination from their cats. One was hanging around outside while three others vigilantly watched me from the narrow, door-length windows by the individual entrances.

I'm still staying at the old place. I'll let my dad or brother disassemble the bed on Saturday. As it works out, my family will stay a night in my new place before I will. They're coming in late Friday, and it'll be a lot easier to put them there. (I bet they'll also have a better chance of getting a decent night's sleep.)

So far, so good. I can't wait to be able to lay down and relax there Saturday night. I'll miss some aspects of my old apartment--I'll detail them in a future post--but once I made the choice to move, I didn't need any convincing that it was the proper thing to do. Today reinforced that decision. So did last night's nonstop video game playing below me. I heard the game with a persistent beat coming through my floor for hours. Now I know what it would be like to be in The Tell-Tale Heart.